The essential Marvel movies to watch before you see 'Avengers: Endgame'

By Claire Knight | Presented by Stan| 5 months ago

The best homework you'll ever do

Avengers: Endgame is almost upon us, but before you rush out to buy a ticket, you might want a refresher on the action that's preceded it.

Luckily, Stan is host to an epic collection of Marvel flicks to revisit before the big finale, which hits cinemas today.

Let's be real. You probably don't have time to binge a bunch of movies this week, so we've handpicked the most relevant to reacquaint yourself with the superheroes who make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

The world is in the grip of World War II and Hydra, an evil death cult, is growing within the Third Reich.

Enter Steve Rogers, aka Captain America (Chris Evans), a scrawny but patriotic US Army soldier who's chosen as the subject for a secret government experiment. Thanks to a serum administered by scientist and engineer Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), Rogers is given super strength.

The First Avenger sees an initiative known as S.H.I.E.L.D (the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) being formed. Remember this because it's a vital part of the forthcoming movies.

The film also introduces the Tesseract -- aka the Space Stone -- which is being used by Hydra leader Redskull (Hugo Weaving) to create death rays.

After building himself a suit of armour to escape a tricky situation with some terrorists, Stark becomes Iron Man and attracts the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who plans to form a superhero team called The Avengers.

Age of Ultron introduces two new Avengers: Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) -- an orphaned twin with telekinetic powers -- and Vision (Paul Bettany), an android carrying the Mind Stone, one of six Infinity Stones that wield the greatest power in the universe.

(Stan)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy takes place in the far reaches of space, where a ragtag bunch of heroes led by Peter "Starlord" Quill (Chris Pratt) seeks to thwart yet another power-hungry alien from destroying a planet.

This origin story is important as it introduces us to Gamora (Zoe Saldana), an orphan from an alien world who was raised by the mysterious Thanos -- the tyrant chasing the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Infinity War.

Her adopted sister and nemesis Nebula (Karen Gillan) is also someone to remember as a potential key player in Endgame.

(Stan)

Ant Man (2015) and Ant Man and the Wasp (2018)

When ex-con Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), is given the power to shrink to the size of an ant, Ant Man introduces us to the concept of the Quantum Realm, a minuscule dimension only accessible through magical energy.

Many fans hypothesise that the Quantum Realm could hold the answers to the outcome of Endgame.

In the post-credits sequence of Ant Man and the Wasp, a major Infinity War hint is given, but we'll leave it to you to discover.

(Stan)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

After all that, if you only have time to watch one Marvel flick before heading into Endgame, then Avengers: Infinity War should be it.

The penultimate Avengers movie involves the Avengers teaming up with the Guardians to battle alien warlord Thanos, who is desperately trying to collect all six Infinity Stones.

If you haven't been paying attention, they're basically magical space rocks each with the power to control some element of reality. With all six in the hands of one evil mastermind, the universe and everyone in it could be destroyed at the click of a finger.

The brilliant part about Infinity War is that it's written in a way that welcomes new Marvel viewers without losing them in the details.

(Stan)

After watching these essential Avengers flicks, you're now you're good and prepped for the next instalment.